Two fishermen float on Cutler Lake at Blue Rock State Park in May 2011. The federal government has given the go-ahead to lease a section of the park for oil and gas exploration.

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| Wire and staff reports

A federal agency wants to open up more than 4,500 acres of Blue Rock State Forest in Muskingum County for oil and natural gas exploration using the controversial method of horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

State resource officials say the move by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was made without their input and environmental advocacy groups are wondering why no one took any additional steps to inform the public, according to a report in the Columbus Dispatch.

Buckeye Forest Council attorney Nathan Johnson said the bureau's proposal to sell oil and gas leases on state-owned ...